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Foreign investors boost portfolio 282% in equities market in Q1 2025

May 5, 2025421 views0 comments

Bamidele Famoofo

Foreign portfolio investors raised their stake in Nigeria’s equities market by 282 per cent, suggesting greater confidence in Africa’s largest economy’s investment climate in first quarter of 2025.

Figures obtained from the Nigerian Exchange Group showed that foreign investors continue to trail behind domestic investors, accounting for  36.5 per cent  of turnover at about N814 billion in the first quarter period but year- on- year, foreign portfolio investment improved significantly by 282 per cent from N213 billion in 2024 to N814 billion in the first quarter in 2025.

Total portfolio investment from domestic and foreign investors through the equities market in the first quarter of 2025 stood at about N2.23 trillion with domestic investors accounting for about 64 per cent of turnover at N1.42 trillion.

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The breakdown of domestic contribution to turnover showed that retail domestic investors are almost at par with their institutional counterparts with over N679 billion investment in three months of 2025 compared with N739 billion by institutional investors in the first quarter of 2025.

Both domestic and institutional  domestic investors showed more commitment to the equities market with more funds invested in first quarter of 2025 compared with 2024.

Domestic retail investors raised the bar with 1.2 per cent increase year-on-year, moving from about N671 billion in the first quarter of 2024 to N679 billion in the same period of 2025.

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors were more aggressive in their investment approach in the review period with an increase of 11.3 per cent turnover growth year-on-year compared with N664 billion invested in the first quarter of 2024.

As at 31 March 2025, total transactions at the nation’s bourse increased significantly by 118.95 per cent from N509.47 billion (about $341.36 million) in February 2025 to N1.1155 trillion (about $725.86 million) in March 2025. The performance of the current month when compared to the performance in March 2024 (N538.54 billion) revealed that total transactions increased by 107.14 per cent. In March 2025, the total value of transactions executed by Foreign Investors outperformed transactions executed by Domestic Investors by circa 26 per cent.

Further analysis of the total transactions executed between the current and prior month (February 2025) revealed that total domestic transactions decreased by 10.98 per cent from N466.82 billion in February 2025 to N415.62 billion in March 2025. However, total foreign transactions increased significantly by 1,541 per cent from N42.65 billion (about $28.57 million) to N699.89 billion (about $455.41 million) between February 2025 and March 2025.

Institutional Investors outperformed Retail Investors by 6 per cent. A comparison of domestic transactions in the current and prior month (February 2025) revealed that retail transactions decreased by 8.11 per cent from N214.51 billion in February 2025 to N197.12 billion in March 2025. Similarly, the institutional composition of the domestic market decreased by 13.40 per cent from N252.31 billion in February 2025 to N218.50 billion in March 2025.

Over an eighteen (18) year period, domestic transactions increased by 33.15 per cent from N3.556 trillion in 2007 to N4.735 trillion in 2024; whilst foreign transactions also increased by 38.31 per cent from N616 billion to N852 billion over the same period. Total domestic transactions accounted for about 85 per cent of the total transactions carried out in 2024, whilst foreign transactions accounted for about 15 per cent of the total transactions in the same period. The transaction data for 2025 shows that total domestic transactions are circa N2.282 trillion, whilst total foreign transactions are circa N814.05 billion.

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